New Westlake Village biotech center could see first tenants in 2027
Life sciences tenants could begin moving into a new biotech center in Westlake Village as soon as next year.
The approximately 100,000-square-foot property was acquired in early 2023 by San Francisco-based Graymark Capital in partnership with Argosy Real Estate Partners.
The former headquarters of Anthem Blue Cross, the facility, now named Westlake Labs, has been retrofitted to make it life science-purposed.
It was the site of the fourth annual 101 Biotech Corridor Conference presented on Oct. 13 by the Westlake Village-based BioScience Alliance.
Brent Reinke, founder and chair of the BioScience Alliance, told the Business Times that he’s in discussions with Graymark to help bring in tenants to the facility, which includes nearly 34,000-square-feet of wet lab space.
“It’s just discussions at this point, but we’re talking about creating what we’re tentatively calling the 101 Innovation Center,” he said.
“And basically we would come in and take over part of the facility with tenants that we bring in and then do some type of maybe revenue sharing,” said Reinke, a senior shareholder at the Westlake Village office of law firm Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, which has a life sciences practice.
The nonprofit alliance supports life sciences firms in the Highway 101 biotech corridor, which runs from the West San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, through Ventura County and into Santa Barbara County.
The corridor includes a growing life sciences hub in the Conejo Valley, home to about 20 biotech companies and anchored by life sciences giant Amgen in Thousand Oaks.
Firms includeAtara Biotherapeutics, Capsida Biotherapeutics, Latigo Biotherapeutics and Tokyo-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Westlake Labs sits on 6.7 acres on top of a hill with sweeping views of the Conejo Valley and Santa Monica Mountains.
It was designed by Graymark’s life sciences initiative,Gray Matter.
“Westlake Labs will present opportunities for the entire life cycle of the life science industry, from mature life science companies to startup ventures to academia,” Graymark says.
Graymark, whose broker is commercial real estate powerhouse CBRE, could bring in tenants on its own, Reinke conceded.
“But I think what we’ve shown them over the last few years is the connections that BSA has regionally, nationally, and internationally,” he said.
“And so, we’re a better bet to bring multiple tenants in here than maybe trying to do something on their own,” he said. “That way, they’re only dealing with one entity.”
Reinke said he’s in discussions with groups in Europe who say, “Hey, we’ve got companies that want to establish a presence in the U.S., but they may only need 1,000 square feet.”
The Westlake Labs facility would be ideal, Reinke said,
“And then we would help them out and try to grow them from there,” he said.
Reinke said he hopes to create the innovation center and have a deal with Graymark Capital by the first quarter of 2027.
And then have the first tenants start to move in right away, he said.
To make the deal with Graymark, Reinke said an anchor tenant who would use 5,000 to 7,000 square feet would be key.
“And so that anchor tenant would basically be the first tenant,” Reinke said.
Earlier in the conference, an Amgen official gave an update on the global life science company’s planned $600 million science and innovation center under construction on the campus of its Thousand Oaks headquarters.
The project was announced in September 2025.
“It’s going up pretty quickly,” Kylie Park, Amgen associate vice president, global corporate affairs, said.
“I think our estimated completion date is early 2029,” she said.
About 575 scientists, engineers and manufacturing colleagues will all work together in the new center.
“And why is that important?” she said. “From Thousand Oaks, we are able to bring a product from start to finish.
“Our research and development colleagues who discover the drugs and the treatment will be working with people in process development who are going to take those beautiful discoveries and try and turn them into products that can be manufactured for patients,” Park said.
She told the Business Times that Amgen, which has facilities throughout the U.S and globally, always felt that its sprawling Thousand Oaks headquarters was the right place for the new center.
“The convergence of science and engineering and manufacturing, all of which is on our Thousand Oaks campus, made this the ideal location to put this facility,” Park said.
Reinke and others in the life sciences sector say the new center will further solidify the Highway 101 biotech corridor as a major life sciences hub both statewide and nationally.
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